Question of the Day

These low-rent New York City apartments include what amenity?

Answer: Smart home tech.

Provided through a startup called Roomrs, the monthly rents for these units start at almost one-third that of the city’s average. The apartments come fully furnished with everything from furniture to bedding, and all utilities are included in the rent — even Internet.

That means the units can be decked out with all the latest smart home tech, which Roomrs provides through partnerships with smart home technology companies like IOTAS and Eight. The former supplies smart lights, locks, plugs and thermostats, while the latter will equip the units with smart mattresses.

Roomrs began operating with a single apartment in the spring of last year, and currently rents almost 300 units in more than 100 buildings. The company’s CEO Or Goldschmidt attributes much of this rapid growth to the appeal of smart home technology to its young demographic. “The goal is to make their whole living in the actual apartment better from every point of view, so we can provide more services like ‘smart stuff’ that our demographic really finds appealing,” he told Digital Trends.